DEFENDING Bird was an adept defender who excelled at playing the passing lanes—probably the flip side of his own preternatural ability to find open teammates. He averaged 1.7 steals during his career, with a single-game high of nine (achieved in three quarters), still a team record. And the most famous play of his career may very well have been the steal against the Pistons in Game 5 of the 1987 Eastern Conference finals.

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